Pre-game tweet to Rockland girl leads to arrest of Mashpee boy

Police and school officials moved swiftly when a Mashpee student said on Twitter that he’d have a gun at Tuesday night’s basketball game against Rockland. The student will be arraigned in Barnstable juvenile court.

By Lane Lambert

The Taunton Daily Gazette, Taunton, MA

By Lane Lambert

Posted Jan. 10, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 10, 2013 at 10:14 AM

By Lane Lambert

Posted Jan. 10, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 10, 2013 at 10:14 AM

ROCKLAND

» Social News

A threatening, pre-game tweet that a Mashpee High student allegedly sent to a Rockland High student has led to the arrest of the Mashpee teen.

The unidentified 16-year-old boy was arrested Monday, the same day he allegedly sent the tweet to a Rockland High girl. He could be charged with making a threat causing school disruption, threatening to commit a crime and disturbing a school assembly.

He’ll be arraigned in Barnstable Juvenile Court at a later date. Making a threat to cause a school disruption is a felony for which the teen could be charged in adult court.

Rockland High principal Alan Cron said he contacted the Mashpee schools and police in Rockland and Mashpee soon after a Rockland parent showed him a photo of the Twitter exchange.

With the Rockland-Mashpee boys basketball game set for Tuesday night, Cron said the Mashpee student’s comments went well beyond typical “trash talk.”

Cron said that when the Rockland student tweeted “I’m scared,” the Mashpee student replied, “You should be, I’ve got a gun,” and said he would “shoot the place up” at the game.

“We take that very, very seriously,” Cron said.

He said Mashpee police concluded that the tweets were “posturing,” and that the student didn’t actually have a weapon to follow through with the threat. But Cron said the incident was a reminder to all students that “what they type (on Twitter) and hit send on, they’re accountable for.”

Cron posted a letter to parents and students on the Rockland High web site, and Rockland police assigned a larger than usual detail of officers to the game, which Rockland won 78-51.

“People felt safe,” Cron said. “And I was proud of the way the kids handled themselves.”